This Week

This week was very long. Monday was the epitome of Mondays - I wasn't feeling great and work was crazy and I knew Tuesday was right around the corner. Because Tuesday we had to wake up at 4am, which greeted us with a dense fog covering the neighborhood. Apparently we live in a valley because as soon as we hit the highway, visibility was clear. The early morning gave me a chance to catch up on a bunch of things at work and then I visited the mothership to pick up some fabric and plans for a new quilt project. 

Wednesday brought another day of work as well as a box full of yarn. The grocery store didn't have what I needed for dinner (what a pain!) so they gave me a $10 gift card for the inconvenience (how nice!) By the time I got home, I was exhausted from the last few days and all I could muster after a late dinner was some easy knitting and Olympic watching. I cast-on a lightweight sweater for the baby with my new yarn and I love the way it looks so far.

Thursday brought 70 degree weather and a new outlook on the week. I had a baby appointment in the morning and everything checked out. Listening to the heartbeat never gets old and I love to know that all our levels and stats are where they should be. We found a foot and the baby rump, but the overall position was a bit of a mystery to the midwife. That little bony butt made an appearance Wednesday night while I was trying to relax on the couch - rumbling back and forth across the top of my belly. My mom was concerned to hear her grandbaby is already twerking! 

After my appointment I set to work drafting a pattern for the new project I mentioned above. It wasn't as straight forward as we had hoped, but after a lot of math and a bit of a redesign, I made it work. I use my middle school geometry and algebra a lot when quilting, so thanks to those teachers. I'm sorry I don't remember your names.

After enjoying open windows all day, the evening brought in severe weather complete with tornado sirens and uninterrupted weather coverage. I retreated to our only "safe place" - the downstairs half bath. Which is not the most comfortable place to spend half an hour. Knitting on the toilet is also not the easiest, but I managed to get a few rows in while the storm passed.

Which brings us to Friday. I'll work on the quilt for a bit, teach my piano lesson, run some errands, and see what the rest of the day holds. The storm brought a cold front through, but this weekend looks to be a bit warmer and I hope I can open up the windows again and enjoy the fresh air while I work.

Newborn Knits

After years of knitting socks, I have acquired quite a stash of tiny leftover balls of yarn. I've used them for different projects, but I have a new favorite: The newborn hat! 

Oh yeah, and tiny socks. 

The beauty of baby knits is how fast they knit, how little yarn they use, and how sweet they look. I have knit a few already and have more on the way. 

This little rainbow duty is made from many different sock yarns. I just knit a few color repeats of each and then tied on the next one. 

The pattern I am using is called the Easy Peasy Newborn Sock Hat and here is a link to my project on Ravelry. 

All of Them

In an attempt to get control of, and use up, my yarn stash, I took all those odd bits of leftover cotton yarn and wound them into new assorted balls. Some people in the knitting community call it a magic cake, I think it's more of a magic onion because each layer brings a new surprise color. Some of the balls were completely random - I just reached over and blindly grabbed the next color. Others, like some above, were selected with a bit more thought, combining like colors or themes - ie, all muted colors, or all bright colors together. 

I knitted and crocheted a few dishcloths from these surprise balls and I love the fun, scrappy feel they bring to my kitchen. Some are hideous and some are pretty, but they all wash dishes just the same and they all used up a small part of my overflowing stash. I can knit a whole dishcloth out of a little less than one of these balls, so I just tie those leftovers on to the next ball and start all over again. I plan to keep going until I completely run out of cotton yarn and then comes the real fun - restocking! 

As I knit each new color section, I remember the original recipient of many of the original dishcloths - specific colors for specific people - moms, aunts, grandmas, cousins, friends... It's nice to think a little part of their kitchen is also in my home. These scrappy versions are very much like a scrappy quilt made with all the cherished leftovers and memories, which also happen to be some of my favorite quilts. 

I plan to spend my weekend knitting some more scrappy dishcloths while watching the Olympics. We caught a bit of the snowboarding qualifiers last night and it was so exciting to see the patriotism and competitive spirit in the athletes! I hope you have a great weekend and Go Team USA!